He has experience in Canadian football, ice hockey, professional wrestling, boxing, kickboxing, and mixed martial arts events. He is also known for his time with WWE on the NXT and SmackDown brands. He is currently signed as a play-by-play announcer with MMA organization Bellator, and also performs play-by-play duties for boxing broadcaster Showtime. Mauro Domenico Ranallo (born December 21, 1969) is a Canadian sports announcer, commentator and mental health advocate. Rafael doesn't waste our time with that, which I appreciate.Ranallo at NXT TakeOver: New Orleans in April 2018 That should be very simple stuff, but it's amazing how often you read people calling for fights that are dead in the water due to the business and politics of boxing. He knows that Top Rank will never work with Al Haymon and that a fighter under contract to one network won't fight a fighter signed to an exclusive deal on another network. Rafael is also very knowledgeable in terms of the business of boxing. If you're asked to give your opinion for long enough, there will be people who hate that opinion. That shows he isn't afraid of saying exactly what he feels or knows about a guy and isn't pulling any punches.įans can often be very sensitive about negative comments toward their favorite athletes, so those same fans attempting to discredit a commentator with accusations of being "a hater" just comes with the territory. It's funny: When you read comments about him he'll be accused of being an apologist or hater of every boxer or promoter at some point, but to me that's actually a sign of him doing his job well. I don't look to him to break down who will win the fight, but he's the best information man in the business. I'm a weekly participant/reader of his Friday chat for ESPN, and it never ceases to amaze me how he can be asked about what appears to be a very obscure fight or fighter, and yet Rafael has the information at hand. There's no better boxing insider than Dan Rafael of ESPN. Here are my top five favorite boxing commentators today. Had to pay respects to an all-time great by at least mentioning him in this article.Įnough of who isn't on the list. At one time Merchant may have topped this list, but over recent years he's stepped down from his regular duties on HBO, and frankly aging has appeared to hurt his game. He entertains me, but I can't call him one of the best.įinally, you also won't see Larry Merchant on this list. I actually enjoy Atlas for his strange metaphors, and sometimes he nails the editorial commentary, like with the Rod Salka situation, but too often his train of thought appears to come off the tracks, and he starts not to make any sense. His shtick can be unintentionally amusing at times, but I can't put him on this list for that reason. Every fighter is the greatest, every fight is the greatest and every moment will be remembered forever. Ranallo has one pitch, and that pitch is a 100 mph fastball straight at your head. That last bit of criteria is why you won't see Mauro Ranallo, who I view as the worst commentator on the major networks. In some ways this list is a ranking of my own personal favorites, which may be completely different from yours both in how the list is ordered and what factors go into your decision-making.įor me I like commentators who offer obviously accurate analysis on the match but also bring some humor to their call and don't try to oversell every aspect of the match. There may be a few great announcers on a smaller channel or overseas who do a great job, but if I don't see their coverage I can't put them on the list.įair or not that's the way it is. Please keep in mind that these are the boxing commentators who I enjoy the most out of the ones I watch often. Guessing there will be a little disagreement over my choices here.
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